BENGALURU, Jan 16 Reuters Indian shares ended lower in a volatile session on Monday, weighed down by continued foreign investor selling and higher oil prices, which offset healthy earnings from HDFC Bank.

The Nifty 50 index closed 0.34 lower at 17,894.85, while the SP BSE Sensex fell 0.28 to 60,092.97. Both benchmarks had risen more than 0.5 earlier in the session.

Ten of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined, with heavyweight financials falling 0.75 and metals losing 1.32.

The reversal in the broader market almost mirrored the downturn in financials, which surrendered intraday gains, as did HDFC Bank despite a betterthanexpected quarterly report. The stock of the country39;s largest private lender closed nearly 1 lower.

The broader weakness was due to foreign selling in Indian equities given their high valuations relative to markets such as China and Taiwan, where allocations were lowered earlier due to COVID curbs, three analysts said.

The volatility in the markets will continue in the near term due to extended selling by foreign portfolio investors FPI, said Siddhartha Khemka, head of research retail at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Data showed FPIs have sold 150.68 billion rupees 1.85 billion worth of equities so far this year.

Foreign institutional investors FIIs have been net sellers for the last sixteen sessions in a row the longest such streak in six months, according to exchange data offloading nearly 239 billion rupees worth of securities since…